Reproduction:African white-bellied hedgehogs breed once or twice a year, usually during warm, rainy seasons when food is plentiful. Females deliver up to 7 hoglets after a gestationof about 7 weeks. Hoglets stay in the nest until they are about 3 weeks old and leave their mother soon after (usually at 4-6 weeks). They reach sexual maturity at about 8 weeks but do not have their adult quills until 12 weeks and are not considered physically mature until they are 10-11 months old.

Behavior:African white-bellied hedgehogs are solitaryand mostly nocturnal, but sometimes active in the early morning or late afternoon. They sleep under logs, in burrows, or in underbrush when not searching for food. They start foraging at dusk and consume up to 30 percent of their body weight in food throughout the night. When food is scarce, they hibernate. Hedgehogs from warmer climates aestivate (have decreased activity during the hottest times of year). They practice a behavior called “self-anointing” in which they produce frothy saliva in response to unfamiliar odors, then lick their own quills, coating themselves in the saliva. This behavior may mask their scent or make their quills more irritating to predators.